Friday, 5 May 2017

Why every woman should strength train

It’s pretty
obvious that I am a firm believer in strength training, especially for women. ESPECIALLY
for mothers or anyone planning on entering that world in the next few years.

My background
is actually in ballet growing up, then in my 20s I started teaching group
fitness classes and absolutely loved it.

ALL OF THE
CARDIO!

This period in
my life absolutely served a purpose as it helped me to establish a love for
exercise on a regular basis and more importantly, allowed me to help other
people discover a love for exercise. It also got me through the darkest of
times when my babies were little.

Fast forward to
my early 30s and my body started to change. I started to experience back and
neck pain, floppy bits started appearing and no matter how many classes I
taught, these only seemed to get worse.

Introducing
quality strength training into my world has had a massive impact on my life. I
still experience injuries from time to time, however the strength in my body
allows me to recover quicker. My posture is far better and my hair, skin and
nails are healthy and strong.

More importantly,
I am strong. I have arms, shoulders and a strong back that allow me to carry a
lot, both physically and emotionally. They allow me to take care of children
with physical confidence, despite my small size. They allow me to play actively
with them, which is incredibly important to me.

Why does a woman need to be strong?

Let’s just
consider the daily movement pattern of a mother.

·Breastfeeding
– being able to sit and hold your baby for an extended period in a somewhat awkward
position.

·Rocking
your baby back and forth, up and down, round and round.

·Attempting
to do housework with a baby either in one arm or in a baby carrier because they
just won’t settle and the housework will not go away.

·Pushing
a pram that potentially weighs around 10+kg along with a baby and a kid in the
pram (I once weighed my pram at over 30kg).

·Picking
things up, putting them down, over and over again.

·Your
child is sick or falls down, they weigh over 20kg and all they want is for you
to pick them up and hold them for a really long time.

·Walking
through the shops and your child’s legs decide to pack it in and you are faced
with carrying your handbag, two bags of groceries and your 20kg child on your
hip

Beyond being a
mother, what about just generally having to face life with extreme levels of
fatigue? Think about how your posture suffers. I have vivid memories of rocking
my youngest, Sam, for hours on end through the darkness of the night. I am so
grateful that my body was strong enough to handle this.

As a mum living
on my own with my two kids I faced additional hurdles I had never considered.
Little incidental activities that needed to be dealt with like:

·Moving
furniture.

·Mowing
my lawn on a steep hill (or generally mowing it full stop).

·Being
the electrician, the handyman and the landscaper.

The list is
endless. Having some semblance of physical strength makes the day-to-day tasks
seem less overwhelming.

Finally, what
about the psychological benefits of feeling strong?

For me, this is
priceless. It isn’t about looking skinny, lean or any of those things. Those
days are passed and I am proud to say that at RHQ this is something we really
discourage.

Especially for
our younger women.

One of my clients training with her daughter.
The ultimate role model.
Inspire your children to be the healthiest version of themselves.
They deserve it.

I simply want
to look and feel strong and healthy. It allows me to feel confident, even when
life as a mother is becoming quite overwhelming. I can walk into a training
session feeling really flat or overwhelmed and walk out feeling like I can
tackle whatever is going on.

Strength
training for me has been about regaining my confidence as a woman. My
confidence took an absolute battering when my kids were born. Improving my physical
strength has directly impacted my emotional resilience in a positive way, which
I know I am then able to pass onto my children, especially my daughter.

I want my
children to grow up knowing that they are strong enough, both physically and
emotionally, to tackle any challenges the world has to throw at them. Our kids
learn from us; there is an overwhelming amount of pressure placed upon us when
our kids are born. I know that I am having a positive impact on the way they
approach their world by consistently being the best version of me. Even when I
don’t feel like it.

Mobility prior to squatting is super
important and will directly affect the
quality of the squat along with the
subsequent recovery.

And finally, from
a purely selfish point of view, when my 40th rolls around next year
I plan on attacking that birthday looking and feeling healthier and stronger
than I was for my 20th or my 30th. Because after all, life
begins when you hit 40, right?!

I spoke to a
couple of our physiotherapists at AllSports Physio, The Gap. They threw loads of reasons at me as to why
strength training and solid mobility training are important for all men and
women. But one statement really stood out for me. I recently discovered that hormonal
changes can significantly affect out bodies at different stages of our lives, but
the affect of this can be dramatically reduced with strength training.

Emily Hodkinson
from All Sports Physio, The Gap, said, “Strengthening or
muscle pull on body attachments stimulates bone growth and can prevent
osteoporosis. We also know that women going through menopause are at a higher
risk of injury. Oestrogen has a protective role on joints and ligaments so
strengthening helps to act as a shock absorber and protect those structures at
risk.”

Seems legit.

So I took this question to my Mums Who Lift community: Ladies, why is strength training important
to you?

“Without
lifting I'd be in pain, physical and mental, with a prognosis of ongoing
misery. Lifting has made me functional.”

“Because
it builds muscle which in turn makes my whole body feel stronger which in turn
makes functioning on a day to day basis a hell of a lot less painful and easier
than it used to be. I want to be mobile as I grow older and not stuck on a
zimmer frame missing out on life”

“Because
it make me feel powerful and gives me roar!!!”

“Increase
metabolism, increase bone density, grow some muscle, loose some weight, to show
my kids that I can still do "stuff" even though I'm injured! And I
love the challenge of strength training!”

“Because
when you have to deal with some heavy shit, you should be able to lift some
heavy shit.”

“Makes
me feel better about myself, you can set goals as you go, there's no end to the
combination of sets you can come up with and you get to chat to all the great
people at the gym! Definitely helps me mentally too.”

“Because
I'm unlikely to look like my 20, 17 or 14 year old daughters again but I can
feel strong no matter how old I am or what I look like.”

So in summary…lift weights ladies!

And for the men reading this: substitute woman for man, skip over
the breastfeeding part and insert with ‘holding your baby for extended periods
of time so your partner can rest’. Finally, substitute handbag for man bag and
you’ve got yourself a fairly convincing argument to hit the gym.

Mums who lift RHQ is such a special community of women
who truly understand the benefits of strength training and
support each other in their desire to live a strong and healthy life.